In this paper, we introduce a kernel recursive least-squares (KRLS) algorithm that is able to track nonlinear, time-varying relationships in data. To this purpose, we first derive the standard KRLS equations from a Bayesian perspective (including a sensible approach to pruning) and then take advantage of this framework to incorporate forgetting in a consistent way, thus enabling the algorithm to perform tracking in nonstationary scenarios. The resulting method is the first kernel adaptive filtering algorithm that includes a forgetting factor in a principled and numerically stable manner. In addition to its tracking ability, it has a number of appealing properties. It is online, requires a fixed amount of memory and computation per time step, incorporates regularization in a natural manner and provides confidence intervals along with each prediction. We include experimental results that support the theory as well as illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

Gaussian processes (GPs) are versatile tools that have been successfully employed to solve nonlinear estimation problems in machine learning but are rarely used in signal processing. In this tutorial, we present GPs for regression as a natural nonlinear extension to optimal Wiener filtering. After establishing their basic formulation, we discuss several important aspects and extensions, including recursive and adaptive algorithms for dealing with nonstationarity, low-complexity solutions, non-Gaussian noise models, and classification scenarios. Furthermore, we provide a selection of relevant applications to wireless digital communications.

Complex-valued neural networks (CVNNs) are a powerful modeling tool for domains where data can be naturally interpreted in terms of complex numbers. However, several analytical properties of the complex domain (such as holomorphicity) make the design of CVNNs a more challenging task than their real counterpart. In this paper, we consider the problem of flexible activation functions (AFs) in the complex domain, i.e., AFs endowed with sufficient degrees of freedom to adapt their shape given the training data. While this problem has received considerable attention in the real case, very limited literature exists for CVNNs, where most activation functions are generally developed in a split fashion (i.e., by considering the real and imaginary parts of the activation separately) or with simple phase-amplitude techniques. Leveraging over the recently proposed kernel activation functions, and related advances in the design of complex-valued kernels, we propose the first fully complex, nonparametric activation function for CVNNs, which is based on a kernel expansion with a fixed dictionary that can be implemented efficiently on vectorized hardware. Several experiments on common use cases, including prediction and channel equalization, validate our proposal when compared to real-valued neural networks and CVNNs with fixed activation functions.